A British laundry company introduces RFID technology to prevent theft of hospital bedding
chrispeng [ad_1]
The theft of bed sheets, hospital gowns and pillowcases in wards and operating rooms causes nearly 400,000 pounds of economic losses to NHS hospitals in the United Kingdom each year. In order to plug this loophole, a British NHS laundry company is currently setting up “radio frequency identification tags” for as many as 300,000 sheets, hospital gowns and pillowcases (RFID, Commonly known as “electronic tags”).
According to reports, among the bedding provided to the hospital by the laundry company last year, the loss of the bedsheets and hospital gowns alone was as high as 390,000 pounds. The main reasons for the missing of a large number of bed sheets and hospital gowns include: petty theft, patients carrying sheep when they are discharged from the hospital, and hospital staff randomly discarding them.
At present, the laundry service company of the Health Committee of the University of South Wales, Anulin-Bifan, has embedded electronic tags for 300,000 pieces of medical bedding. Alan Dudley, equipment management manager of the health committee, said: “This measure will help detect improper handling of medical bedding, and can quickly and accurately count the inventory and use of medical bedding. The reasons for the loss of medical bedding include : Hospital staff dismissed the bedding as too dirty to be cleaned and discarded it without authorization, illegal theft, and taking the hospital bedding home when the patient was discharged from the hospital, etc. In order to reduce this loss, medical bedding, hospital gowns, and surgical gowns Etc. has been set up electronic label processing, in order to accurately track the storage and use of these supplies.”
The electronic labeling of medical bedding and other items can easily grasp the number of items issued and recycled by the laundry company, and it can also find the number of medical bedding discarded in the garbage bag and the total number of stored bedding. Dudley said: “Through this method, the hospital management agency can easily identify which hospitals have lost medical bedding and other items, and determine the specific reasons and preventive measures with the hospital staff in the first time.”
Dudley said that the “electronic labeling” of medical items such as bed sheets, pillowcases, and hospital gowns can effectively reduce the cost of NHS hospitals and make hospital management more scientific. This move also highlights the important significance and broad prospects of the application of science and technology in the field of public services.
[ad_2]
